Returning to the city on his third missionary journey, Paul spent nearly three years there (Acts 18:23 19:41). The City of Ephesus At the end of his second missionary journey, Paul visited Ephesus where he left Priscilla and Aquila (Acts 18:18 21). This heavenly calling, in turn, provides the means and empowerment of the believer s life of obedience on earth (4:1, 7 10). Although previously dead in sin, the Christian has been raised with Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly places (2:6). The heavenly character of the believer s calling is stressed in Ephesians (1:3). Cox 2 His commitment to build a glorious, mature, and ministering church, not having spot or wrinkle (5:27). God s glory is particularly revealed inĢ Ephesians Roger A. The word glory occurs eight times and refers to the exceeding excellence of God s love, His wisdom, and His power. The wonderful news of salvation in Ephesians is directed toward the goal of the praise of His glory (1:6, 12, 14). 1 3), and the practice of the Christian (chs. Thus, the two main divisions of the book are: the position of the Christian (chs. But chapters 4 6 include thirty-five directives that speak of believers responsibility to conduct themselves according to their calling. There are no imperatives in chapters 1 3, which focus on the divine gifts to the believer. Themes and Literary Structure The first half of Ephesians lists the believer s heavenly possessions in Christ Jesus: adoption, redemption, inheritance, power, life, grace, citizenship, and the love of Christ. This may refer to a copy of Ephesians with the name Laodicea inserted in a blank space so that the circular letter might also be read there. Some scholars believe that this theory explains Paul s reference in Colossians 4:16, where he requested that the epistle to the Colossians be read along with the epistle from Laodicea. Because the phrase in Ephesus (1:1) was omitted in some early Greek manuscripts, some have suggested that the epistle was a circular letter addressed to the churches of Asia Minor as a whole and forwarded from church to church.
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The destination of the epistle is less certain. It was probably written at about the same time as Colossians.
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Date As one of Paul s Prison Epistles (the name given collectively to Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon), the letter would be dated to the period A.D, corresponding to the time of Paul s first Roman imprisonment (cf. Arguments from vocabulary and style are notoriously subjective, however, and the richness of the theology in Ephesians is better attributed to Paul s own growth and meditation on the nature of the church. Some have argued, however, that Ephesians differs in vocabulary and style, and that the view of the universal church as the body of Christ represents a later theological development. Author The name Paul occurs at 1:1 and 3:1 as the author of this book, and the ancient tradition of the church supports this claim. Paul wrote this epistle to make Christians more aware of the riches they have in Christ and to motivate them to draw upon these spiritual resources in daily living. Cox 1 THE BOOK OF EPHESIANS Introduction Except for the book of Romans, the book of Ephesians is the most carefully written presentation of Christian theology in the New Testament.